10 Breakfast Ideas (With Photos)
Here is a comparison of 4 breakfasts from fast food outlets, along with 6 home-made breakfasts.
Each breakfast was actually prepared (or purchased) and photographed. Calorie counts are listed (full nutritional details also available).
This is a 'real world' list. While it would be great for health if we all ate organic oats every morning - sometimes we need to be pragmatic about the foods we normally eat - and just how much change we can realistically make.
Enjoy!
Fast Food
- Reduced Fat Cranberry Orange Scone
- Hot coffee, Northern Lite Latte with sugar free syrup and skim milk, no whipped cream
- Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake
- Espresso Hot, Cinnamon Dolce Latte with sugar free syrup and non-fat milk, no whipped cream
- McDonald's Egg McMuffin, without Canadian Bacon
- McDonald's Minute Maid Apple Juice
- Baked Berry Stella
- Caramel Latte with sugar free syrup and non-fat milk, no whipped cream
Home Cooked
- Oatmeal (Cooked 1/3 cup)
- Milk (Fat-Free ½ cup)
- Banana (less than 6 inches)
- Walnuts (English ½ oz)
- Tea with Splenda
- One large egg (cooking spray)
- Whole grain toast
- I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray (5 sprays)
- Bacon (3 slices)
- Coffee with caramel creamer (1 TBSP)
- Two egg omelet (2 Tbs green onions,1 slice tomato, 2oz mushrooms, 1 Tbs green pepper, 1 Tbs parmesan cheese)
- Whole grain toast
- I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray (5 sprays)
- Tea with Splenda
- Cereal, Fruit Harvest, Strawberry/Blueberry (Kellogg's, ¾ cup)
- Skim Milk (½ cup)
- Blueberries (2.4 oz)
- Coffee
- Two medium eggs scrambled
- White toast (reduced calorie)
- Blackberry Jelly (1 ½ tsp )
- Hashbrowns (½ c shredded)
- Olive oil (1 tsp)
- Tea with Splenda
- Yogurt (fruit flavored, fat-free, 4.4 oz)
- High Protein Breakfast Bar (South Beach)
- Coffee with caramel creamer (1 TBSP)
Full Nutrition details of each item (along with various swaps) can be seen here (PDF).
Thank you to Ranae of RanaesHeart.com who was able to take the photographs.
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Am I alone in thinking that all the home-made ones look much better?
ReplyI'm sure they are much healthier too.
ReplyI wouldn't touch most of those fast food breakfasts with a ten-foot pole. *gag*
Most of the ones pictured here just made me think, "Wow, that is not enough food to justify that many calories." 400 calories for half a muffin? No thanks.
Replyhaha I was thinking the same thing.
ReplyYou totally get more food if you make your breakfast at home. Also, I think you'd be better off getting the Egg McMuffin without the cheese rather than without the bacon...Canadian bacon is a pretty good source of lean protein while those processed oily cheesefood slices are just, well, nasty.
I personally LOVE my oatmeal for breakfast and I probably won't be changing from it anytime soon.
ReplyI love my oatmeal in the morning also. I do better having protein at every meal, so I add a scoop of protein powder to my oatmeal.
Replydid you notice that the home-made ones were like at least twice as big?? if that doesnt win you over, i do not know what will. 2 TIMES BIGGER! WOW!!
ReplyI actually thought that it was misleading. Yeah, they were on average bigger. That's a given. But, well, that Egg McMuffin would be bigger, too, if it weren't all piled together. She spread the homemade breakfasts out on a plate, after all.
I think a better message to take from this is that it IS possible to lose weight and still grab an occasional meal from McDonald's - so long as it's just that, occasional. You'd be better off setting up something quick at home, like eggs and toast or oatmeal and milk, and setting aside a day or two every week for a scone and a latte on-the-go.
ReplyBut you do have to remember that the McMuffin is a lot more calorie dense, since who knows what is in the biscuit and that the egg and whatever else goes on it is going to be cooked in a load of grease. Plus, really, does anyone believe that restaurant nutritional information is accurate? I certainly don't anymore, after working in a restaurant.
ReplyOh, I know that. I'm saying, it's okay IN MODERATION. (Frankly, I've never liked McDonald's. It makes me nauseous. At the same time, I have a nasty sweet tooth and have been known to eat ice cream for lunch from time to time.)
I'm just a little jaded by "dieter's talk" that I got from WW meetings. It seems like half the people who wax poetic about how "homemade looks and tastes sooo much better!" are the first to make excuses for why they HAD to spend all week eating at Dunkin Donuts and gained another three pounds. It's all about priorities, though. If they really cared about eating healthy, and really thought so little of fast food, they should try to find a way to eat at home.
ReplyLove the pictures! Homemade is always better! Unfortunately in todays hectic world so many people have to eat on the go - especially during the work week. You may be interest in these on the breakfast ideas at
Replyhttp://blog.honestdietreviews.com/quick-on-the-go-breakfast-ideas
Anything is better homemade! Less calories and more nutrtion. The problem is that so many people lead hectic lifes and eat on the run. Vsit my site do a search on quick on the go breakfast ideas.
Reply"HonetDietReviews on 08/20/08
Anything is better homemade! Less calories and more nutrtion. The problem is that so many people lead hectic lifes and eat on the run. Vsit my site do a search on quick on the go breakfast ideas."
This is probably the main reason why we are overweight as a nation. Family mealtime no longer exists.
ReplyWe have family mealtime. We eat dinner together every night, and often share breakfast and/or lunch. I cook just about everything from scratch. I'm overweight.
I have a lot of bad food habits, and while I would never give up our family meals, I know it's a lot easier to take seconds when I'm having a pleasant time with the family. I also have to cook food that everyone will eat, and that doesn't always help.
I think the lack of family mealtime creates many problems, but I wouldn't blame it for the nation being overweight. I would personally blame the constant push for businesses to grow,lobbying, marketing, lack of established traditions (this one might fit in with lack of family mealtime), and in the US, foolish dietary advice on the part of the government.
ReplyI'd rather wait two and a half minutes in front of the microwave for my oatmeal than 10 minutes in line for my donut.
ReplyI really love the jug and cup in the blueberry cereal breakfast. As others have said, it's always interesting to see how much more bulk you can get for your calories at home -- though it's also good to know some "normal" eat-out options can fit within a healthy eating plan.
ReplyThe cake and pastry things would leave me starving after a while...and definitely a while before lunch! Egg, yogurt, or oatmeal, please.
ReplySame here....
I'd much prefer a nutrient-dense breakfast than a bunch of sugar in various forms - not only is more protein and fat in a breakfast more satiating, it's packed with more nutrients too!
My typical breakfast - three egg omelet, made with about a teaspoon of butter (yes, real butter), about an 1/2 ounce (shredded) natural cheddar, some broccoli florets (about 1/4 cup), chopped up canadian bacon (1 slice)...coffee with half & half (about 1-ounce H&H)....all totaled, 445 calories --- and no way I'll be hungry mid-morning...it'll be hours before I'm hungry again!
ReplyThat sounds quite tasty, really, and definitely a way to avoid being hungry for the entire morning. I notice a difference even if I have two eggs versus one egg and a piece of fruit. I just love fruit so much, sometimes I decide the hunger will eventually be worth it.
ReplyWhat Spectra said. Get it w/o the cheese and it is probably one of the best ff breakfasts around.
ReplyThis is really cool! I love breakfast from Starbucks, but I prefer the breakfast sandwiches. They keep me full longer.
www.carrotsncake.com
Replyalmost all of them, homemade and other, have fake sugar and some have fake "butter spray". yuck.
Reply"almost all of them, homemade and other, have fake sugar and some have fake "butter spray". yuck."
I worry about "chemical" stuff. Maybe less calories but more cancer risk.
By the way is this sponsored by "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter." All spray butters have no fat and no calories and cost less.
ReplyFast food is always a last option, and cutting out the coffee would have been a big benefit to her choices both for the wallet and calories.
These small calorie option meals are nice for some I'm sure, but 400 or less calories for breakfast is way too little for me.
ReplyI make my own on-the-go breakfasts and freeze them (whole wheat pancakes, breakfast sandwiches made with egg whites, lean meats, cheese, and english muffins).
I also don't believe the calorie counts in some fast food items. It all depends on how they are prepared, and they aren't prepared exactly the same each time. It seems like it would be easy for them to fudge on the calorie counts from butter and fat. And since fast food restaurants are not yet by law required to report nutrition information, i doubt that there is a government agency checking the accuracy of the reports.
ReplyWhile the calories are fairly similar, it is night and day as far as food quality and nutrition.
ReplyDefinitely make breakfast at home.
ReplyI am surprised that we could get a low cal type from McDonalds. Those sandwiches are tasty but really greasy if you have more than one....are you sure about the calories?
ReplyThese breakfasts are all too light for me. Breakfast is my biggest meal of the day - I usually get 30-40% of my daily calories at breakfast. Pastries and sugary drinks are not going to cut it - they will leave me too sluggish and I will get hungry too quickly. Also, they have too many empty calories.
My breakfasts need protein, fat, and good carbs. I usually eat a sandwich (peanut butter, soybean butter, or salmon salad on whole wheat bread), trail mix (raisans, sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds, almonds) and a piece of fruit (apple, banana, or orange).
ReplyI agree that the homemade ones look much better. I've never really eaten much breakfast from the fast food places, as I prefer eating breakfast at home. So the homemade ones seem much more appealing to me.
ReplyI find it hard to believe that any breakfast with 3 strips of bacon has 290 calories.
The omlette sounds good.
There more benefits to oatmeal than calories.
Some of those seem like something to tide you over until lunch. Why bother with the pastry type stuff. I'm sure there are donuts out there will less calories.
ReplyBacon's not as high-calorie as people think, especially if you get the center-cut kind that's fairly lean. I think 2 pieces of bacon has something like 110-150 calories, depending on the brand.
ReplyI always make my own coffee and drink it with no sugar or cream.
ReplyGood idea. I love omelet. i will consider to do my own breakfast set : 2 egg omelet + 1 apple + hot chocolate with oak.
i found that eat oak every morning , helps me on diet. i loss 2 inche of waist line in 1 month with a plum for dessert after my dinner and 1 glass of oak in the morning.
Good post,may come out with another blog with 10 diy lunch idea.thanks~!
ReplyWhat is oak (other than a kind of tree)?
ReplyBreakfast is the most important meal of the day, the GI needs to be kept low which means that a great deal of the above foods aren’t the best choices anyway.
ReplyAfter years of yo-yo weight loss (and regain) for the last 15 years I was about to just give up. Getting older and my matabolism slowing to a halt didn't help much. We all know its all about calories in-calories burnt for most of us to get/stay fit. I had surgery a few weeks ago and during my recuperating my doctor put me on a "3- 300 calorie meals per day, plus 2 100-150 calorie "snacks" per day. I also had to give up caffeine, soda and alcohol. I'm telling you I couldn't imagine it. It has been three weeks now and I have lost 12 pounds. I feel better and surprisingly my stomach seems trained to eat the smaller portions now. I am not so "starving" like I used to be. Also....one very important key I noticed...eat before you feel hungry. This week I get to add in working out so I know it can only get better. Still need to take off another 15 pounds. Hope this helps a few of you....I do realize it will not work for some, but I just felt in my heart the need to share.
ReplyBest of luck....
Rose
All the homemade ones would make me want to sit down and eat them. They looked yummy and so much better for you.
ReplyDessert + Coffee
Replydoes not
= Breakfst
to know how 2 make ur breakfast full of nutrition visit www2.kelloggs.com
Replycheck out the nutrition n recipe section 2 get recipe of nutritive breakfast
I was disappointed to see how little fresh food was included. Its so important to eat more fresh than processed food if you are serious about losing weight and being healthy. Sure, there was some blueberries on the cereal but how about some fruit based options? I compiled a list of breakfast choices for when you want to count the calories and I'm biased I know, but it does get the day off to a healthy start. http://instantfeelgood.blogspot.com/2008/07/best-breakfasts-when-trying-to-lose.html
ReplyI'm interested to note that all these breakfasts are Western ones. But around the world, other cultures eat what us Westerners might never consider as 'breakfast' foods that are healthy and nutritious and low in calories.
For more breakfast-around-the world ideas see:
Replyhttp://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/breakfast-ideas.html
What will your calorie intake be when you start to work out? I
ReplyMy best breakfast is oatmeal porridge and a protein shake..=)
ReplyI know a lot of people think the I Can't Believe it's not Butter spray is awful, gross, revolting, etc. but I have to admit, I love it. It has saved my diet for years by cutting out all of the saturated fat of real butter. As far as breakfast, I've been having a hard boiled egg with one or two slices of light bread toast (40 calories a slice) with the spray butter on it, and either a banana or Yoplait fat free yogurt, and iced coffee with skim milk and Sweet n Low. Yes, I supposed that between the spray butter and Sweet n Low I am going to die a premature death with those kinds of chemicals going into my system every day! But it does help control the weight. I couldn't stand a donut or scone in the morning, it would set like a rock in my stomach!
Reply